Here's the lazy secretary's First Axiom of Computing: It's a great deal easier
to manipulate software with a mouse than without one. After getting used to a
system with a mouse, I suddenly had to do without. I was crippled. During my
first mouse era, my keyboard use had shrunk to (gasp!) only letters and
numbers. I'd forgotten the cursor-movement key combinations in my word
processor.

With mice on my mind, I went browsing in my favorite computer shop, and there
it hung, an answer t my prayer: Pet Mouse from International Microcomputer
Software. I picked up the mouse to check for unusual markings. One caught my
eye right away. This mouse came with MenuDirect menuing and hard
disk--management software. The mouse was nicely compact and fit my hand well.
It was so light that I looked forward to hours of Windows working with no
wrist cramp. I noticed three buttons across the top and a small drawing of a
mouse (probably a relative) under the left button. Flipping it over to tickle
the trackball, I realized that taking the cover off to clean it wouldn't be a
problem.

The Pet Mouse is slightly wider and fits my hand better than a Microsoft
mouse. As far as performance is concerned, I couldn't find any problems. I
found it responsive and accurate, even with the rigorous demands of Tetris.
The buttons are a bit firmer than those of other mice I've used, and the click
is more audible, but I found that double-clicking wasn't a problem at all.

I'm a sucker for pets, so of course I took this little guy home. It said right
on the box that there's a double lifetime guarantee, so what did I have to
lose? The manufacturer guarantees the Pet Mouse for as long as you own it and
further assures that the Pet Mouse supports all mouse-driven PC software,
since it's compatible with both Microsoft and Mouse Systems. What more could
you ask?

You could buy a bigger, heavier, fancier mouse that costs more. But why would
you want to do that? DANA STOLL